Funding cuts hit Huey P. Long Hospital in Pineville

As LSU hospitals today begin implementing reductions in services and program closures, Pineville’s Huey P. Long Hospital anticipates a 35% reduction in its acute-care beds program, reports The (Alexandria) Town Talk. LSU officials are negotiating with private hospitals to assume at least some operations in an effort to handle a $329 million cut in funding. Officials laid out a plan Friday that uses one-time funding, defers purchases, eliminates programs, reduces salaries, lays off some employees, and makes roughly $50 million in cuts to balance the hospital system budget. “We don’t have the capacity to take out about $330 million and not impact our services without a significant increase in our revenues,” says Dr. Fred Cerise, vice president of the LSU System Office of Health Affairs & Medical Education. But since there’s no way to significantly increase revenues, some patient impact was necessary. Cerise says physicians agreed to take less money for treating patients, patients would pay a little more than formerly, and a delicate balancing act to secure additional Medicaid funds would be put in place. Revenues produced daily would be submitted to retrieve a federal Medicaid match. To read more, click here.